Suspect whose witness was deported loses appeal

Published 4:00 am, Friday, May 28, 2010

A Santa Rosa man charged with stabbing a restaurant patron was not deprived of a fair trial when immigration officials deported his only witness, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

A Sonoma County judge had dismissed charges of assault and attempted murder against Armando Jacinto, finding that local authorities violated his rights by allowing the federal government to deport a jail inmate who was prepared to testify that someone else committed the stabbing.

But the state's high court ruled unanimously that neither the county's prosecutors nor its jailers committed misconduct by complying with a legal deportation order. Even if the sheriff's office had acted improperly by turning over a defense witness to be deported, five of the seven justices said, it wasn't part of the prosecution team obliged to protect Jacinto's right to a fair trial.

The ruling allows prosecutors to reinstate charges against Jacinto for the May 2006 stabbing. Lawyers on both sides of the case said the court's conclusion that the district attorney's office wasn't responsible for jailers' actions could also help prosecutors in future cases.

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling requires prosecutors to provide a defendant's lawyer with all evidence they or their investigators uncover that might help the defense's case. That requirement applies to information that police learn while working on a case, but under Thursday's ruling it wouldn't necessarily cover evidence found by a jail or prison guard.

The court "draws a difference between law enforcement agencies," said Deputy Attorney General Amy Haddix. Defense lawyer Stephanie Clark agreed, but said she may appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The removal of Jacinto's sole witness "precludes him from getting a fair trial," Clark said.

Jacinto was accused of stabbing Victor Retana in the abdomen after an argument in a Santa Rosa restaurant. Retana and a friend both identified Jacinto as the assailant, but a defense investigator found another witness, Nicolas Esparza, who had been working nearby in a lunch truck and said he had seen a woman stab Retana.

Esparza was then being held in jail on an unrelated charge. The investigator returned with a subpoena for his appearance in October 2006, but Esparza told him he expected to be deported to Mexico. The sheriff's office turned him over to immigration officials two days later.

In Thursday's ruling, the court said the Constitution prohibits a prosecutor from interfering with a defendant's right to call witnesses - for example, by threatening a prospective defense witness with arrest. But Jacinto's prosecutors were not involved in Esparza's removal and would not have violated Jacinto's rights by following a deportation order, the court said.

Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar also noted in the ruling that the defense could have secured Esparza's testimony by taking his deposition in jail or by asking federal authorities to delay his deportation.

Clark said Jacinto's trial attorney had been following standard legal practice by serving a subpoena and had no reason to think other steps were needed.